Five trustees elected to USC governing board

Five new members were named to the Board of Trustees Wednesday. David Bohnett, Jeanie Buss, Kathy Leventhal, Kris Popovich and Tracy Sykes now join 55 other board members.

Bohnett, a philanthropist and technology entrepreneur, founded GeoCities.com in 1994. After selling the company to Yahoo! Inc. in 1998, Bohnett created the David Bohnett Foundation, which supports art, education and civil organizations by providing them with funding, technology and technical support.

As the co-owner, president and governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, Buss has been a major leader in the sports world for more than 20 years.

Leventhal was the founding publisher of Allure magazine, and also served as the publisher of Vanity Fair. She is a member of the USC President’s Leadership Council and is a co-chair on the executive board of the USC Parent Leadership Circle.

The Popovich family had been a long-time benefactor of USC, with Popovich and his wife, Jane, building Popovich Hall for the Marshall School of Business. He operated Hoffman Associates and was president and CEO of Hoffman Video Systems, and served as staff assistant for former President Gerald Ford. Popovich helped form a board of directors for the USC Associates, for which he served as president for many years. He is also a member of the Marshall Board of Leaders.

After graduating from the first class of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, Sykes created the first endowed faculty chair in the physical therapy division. Along with her husband Gene — a co-chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Technology, Media and Telecom group — she has funded a scholarship in the field of physical therapy.

The Board of Trustees serves as the governing body over USC and elects new members each year. The newly appointed members will hold their seats for a five-year term.